


Her Rightful Soulmate

by EverydayGeek



Category: The Good Place (TV)
Genre: Based on Attempt #218, Developing Relationship, F/F, Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2018-02-21
Packaged: 2019-01-07 11:32:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12231966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EverydayGeek/pseuds/EverydayGeek
Summary: Tahani seemed a bit snobbish and judgmental, but Eleanor was kind of into that. She had a thing for gorgeous, Amazonian women who could crush her under their stiletto.orThe one where Tahani and Eleanor are soulmates, and are legitimately into each other.





	1. Day 1

Eleanor stood in the middle of her new living room and stared at the tall, tan woman standing in the home's front entrance. Wind blew through the woman's long, dark hair, causing it to flow over her shoulders in luscious waves. Considering this was the afterlife, natural wind wasn't something Eleanor had expected to exist since they were all dead and had no real need for. To be honest, it looked like the woman's hair was being purposefully blown by a giant fan, as if it to add to her physical appeal.

A whirling sound nearby caused Eleanor to look over to her side, where Janice - or was it Jessica? Jude? - aimed a large fan at the sexy skyscraper currently staring down at her. All the fan did was add a windswept look to her appearance, it didn't change the fact that she was already insanely gorgeous and didn't need any gimmicks or enhancements for Eleanor to be attracted to her.

Side note: Eleanor was  _definitely_  attracted to her.

A deep voice sounded near her right ear, causing her to snap out of her reverie and look up at the white-haired man smirking down at her. She'd forgotten he was even there.

"Eleanor, this is Tahani Al-Jamil, your soulmate." Michael told her, waving the other woman inside the moderately-sized home.

Tahani looked down at Eleanor with a smile faker than the spray tan she'd gotten a few months prior to getting crushed by those shopping carts. It rubbed her the wrong way, but it also rubbed her in…sort of the  _right_  way. Tahani seemed a bit snobbish and judgmental, but Eleanor was kind of into that. She had a thing for gorgeous, Amazonian women who could crush her under their stiletto. If Eleanor didn't know any better, she'd say Tahani looked more disappointed about their living arrangement than she did with their soulmate arrangement, so she took that as a slight win.

"It's splendid to meet you, Eleanor. I look forward to our time together," Tahani greeted in a posh, English accent.

Eleanor ignored the unwarranted butterflies in her stomach and nodded. "Ditto."

Eleanor noticed the woman's slight eye roll at her short response, and narrowed her eyes. Had she blinked, she would have missed it. Weren't people in The Good Place supposed to shit rainbows and radiate nauseating happiness? Tahani was polite, she'd give her that, but Eleanor was sure that, under that put-together exterior, was an insane body that she totally  _was not_  imagining right now and… something else that she couldn't quite put her finger on. But, as soulmates, was she allowed to put her finger on Tahani or use her whole hand?

And there went her train of thought. Tahani's knowing look only served to fluster her more.

Breaking the long, sexually charged silence, Michael clapped his hands together excitedly (a little too excitedly for Eleanor's liking) and smiled at the silent pair. "Well, I think it's time I head out and give you two a chance to get to know each other. If you need anything, call for Janet, and she will assist you with whatever your good hearts desire. I'll see you two at the party tonight."

And with that, he quickly left the house and closed the door behind him, leaving the two women standing in silence. It wasn't until that moment that Eleanor had noticed that - Nadine? Jane? Janet! – had left.

"So…" Eleanor started, attempting to break the awkward silence.

"So…" Tahani repeated, gnawing at her plump bottom lip, and then licking at the indented area to soothe it.  

If Eleanor thought about what it would be like to take that bottom lip between her teeth, she refused to acknowledge it. Or, she'd tried to; it was a valiant effort. Tahani was frustratingly attractive and Eleanor's body was reacting to her presence a little too excitedly, and it was obvious Tahani had noticed, given her quirked eyebrow and knowing smirk.

"I didn't know dead people were capable of blushing," Tahani remarked, staring at Eleanor's beet red face in amusement. "Are you feeling hot, my dear?"

"Let's go for a walk!" Eleanor suggested instead, immediately heading for the door without waiting for Tahani's response, although she'd heard it, in the form of a quiet, husky chuckle.

* * *

The party had been eventful, to say the least. While on her walk with Tahini, who had eventually branched off on her own to investigate the spa on main street, Janet appeared to her with a note in her handwriting, telling her to find someone named Chidi. Eleanor wasn't sure who Chidi was, but she'd found herself asking every other person she'd encountered at the party if their name was Chidi.

"Any luck finding your mystery person?" Tahani asked, approaching her with two glasses of champagne in her hands, offering one to Eleanor.

Eleanor took the glass but made no move to drink from it, wanting to keep a clear head for her speech. She wasn't about to give away the fact that she was a fraud that didn't belong there. A small part of her got the impression that Tahani hadn't belonged there, either, but that was a mystery for another day.

"Nope," Eleanor responded, staring around the room at all the obnoxiously smiling faces. "Maybe Chidi isn't a person. Maybe Chidi is a nickname for a chia pet."

It wasn't until Michael had approached her about her upcoming speech that she'd learned that Chidi was, indeed, a person.

A clearly inebriated man stepped onto the stage, wine glass in hand, and began spouting out some remorseful speech about how he had used almond milk in his coffee on Earth, which meant that he didn't deserve to be there. He was high-strung, nerdy, wore glasses, and was probably the type of person who beat himself up over every little thing he'd ever done wrong in his life.

 _Ah, so that's why I wanted to find him; so that he could teach me how to be good,_ Eleanor thought to herself, cringing at the loud belch the man let out mid-speech. She'd need to find him when he was sober and decidedly less whiny.

"Chidi!" Michael harshly whispered to the drunk, rambling man, gently pulling the man offstage. "Pevita, can you take him home and watch after him?" Michael said through a tight, forced smile.

An Asian woman helped ease the man off the stage and placed one of his arms over her shoulders. Through clenched teeth, she said, "Let's get you home,  _soulmate_."

Michael went up to the stage following the couple's exit and announced that the party was over. There would be a town meeting the following morning to discuss the night's events.

As everyone began to disperse, Tahani ran a finger through Eleanor's hair and teased, "Aren't you glad that you have a stable soulmate?"

Eleanor would later find out that things were not as they seemed. The one thing that would remain the same, however, was that she was legitimately into Tahani. 


	2. Day 2 - Day 50

As it turned out, Tahani wasn't as stable as she'd claimed. Their second day in The Good Place, and Tahani had nearly punched a hole in their bedroom wall when she noticed a poster of her sister pasted behind the opened closet door.

"Dude, what the fork?" Eleanor exclaimed when Tahani forcibly ripped the poster off the wall.

The taller woman took a deep breath and turned toward Eleanor, a forced smile pulling at her lips. "I'm terribly sorry, I don't know what came over me. The poster just gave me a fright, is all," Tahani explained as she folded the poster in half and indiscreetly dropped it on the closet floor. She, then, slammed the closet door shut for good measure, all while sporting that creepy, strained smile.

Eleanor cleared her throat and said the first thing that came to her mind. "I'd rather look at you than your sister anyway."

Tahani smiled and approached Eleanor, bringing her hands to rest on the shorter woman's shoulders. With a quiet sigh, Tahani whispered, "Oh, Eleanor, darling…I wish I could say the same about you."

And then she removed her hands from Eleanor's shoulders and walked past her, exiting their bedroom.

Eleanor scoffed, indignantly, and called out, "I thought liars weren't allowed in The Good Place!"

A quiet chuckle from the hallway was the only answer she received.

* * *

"Have you always been this hot, or was puberty just extremely good to you?"

Tahani stared at Eleanor over the rim of her sunglasses, which were rested on the tip of her nose, and smiled. "Oh, darling, I've always been this gorgeous. Nature has always been good to me," Tahani replied, her eyes suddenly adopting a faraway look, "or it  _was_ , until I pulled Theresa May out of a sinkhole, just to fall to my death a moment later…"

They were in the middle of a grassy field, leaning against a tree, watching the other Good Place residents go about their day from a distance. Eleanor looked up at Tahani, who had gone quiet after  _that_  admission.

"You died saving the British prime minister?" Eleanor asked, disbelief painting her features. She knew Tahani was hot shitake on earth, but risking her life to save her nation's leader? That was a level of good that Eleanor was sure not even Chidi had achieved. Maybe Tahani  _did_  belong in The Good Place (she'd been doubting it over the last few days they'd been together; Tahani's "compliments" always seemed backhanded, but Eleanor guessed it was just her accent and obnoxious hotness that made it come off that way).

Tahani dramatically sighed, pushed the sunglasses up the bridge of her nose, and looked at Eleanor through tinted lenses. "Yes. Although, according to Janet, my dear sister was congratulated and awarded for my honorable sacrifice. Apparently, they've named a library after her in my honor," Tahani bit out, her voice taking on an unusual edge.

Eleanor quirked an eyebrow at the angry tone, and Tahani plastered on an exaggerated smile. Eleanor  _definitely_  wasn't imagining that.

"Which is  _great_  for her," Tahani amended, her sunny demeanor forced. "I am  _so_   _glad_  that she is getting recognition for something that cost me  _my life_."

"So, are you mad or…?" Eleanor quipped, trailing off when she could practically feel Tahani's hidden gaze burning into her. "I'll take your silence as a yes. If you want, maybe we could fork it out?"

Instead of answering her, Tahani stormed off with an aggravated huff.

"So, that's a no then?" Eleanor called out to Tahani's retreating figure.

* * *

Eleanor hadn't meant to walk in on Tahani changing, but it happened, and her eyes had never felt more blessed. Instead of screaming or seeming even remotely scandalized, Tahani simply glanced at her for a brief moment, and continued undressing. She was like a sexy jungle gym; tall and curvy, and exactly what Eleanor would love to climb on. Which, for the record, was something that had yet to happen. Eleanor wasn't sure how long it had been since she'd wrongfully ended up there, but she knew that she and Tahani had made very little progress in the soulmate department. Aside from the occasional flirting, Eleanor wasn't sure if Tahani even liked her.

Tahani had a snootiness about her that was hard to decode. Was she legitimately into Eleanor and only acting like a birch to fork with her? Or was she a birch to her because she didn't actually like her? Regardless of the reason, Eleanor was still insanely attracted to her, and the attraction only grew with every backhanded compliment Tahani threw her way. Michael seemed to be keeping a close eye on them and their relationship; Eleanor wondered if it was because he secretly knew that his soulmate system was busted.

"Eleanor, can you zip me up?" Tahani asked, disturbing Eleanor from her reverie.

Eleanor's eyes snapped up to the tan back directly in front of her, wondering when Tahani had approached her and how long she'd been standing there, and reached for the zipper, sliding it slowly up the woman's back. Tahani, who had been holding her hair up during the zipping process, allowed the dark tresses to fall from her grasp and fall across her covered back.

Instead of walking away like Eleanor expected her to, Tahani turned around to face her, and pushed a stray, blonde strand behind Eleanor's ear. Eleanor stared at her, quizzically. The room fell silent, and Eleanor watched as Tahani's eyes roamed over her from head-to-toe.

"What is it?"

Tahani said nothing for a moment, but then she'd brushed her hand over the fabric of Eleanor's shirt and wrinkled her nose.

"Do you ever wear anything other than flannel?"

And, just like that, the moment was gone.

* * *

Eleanor strolled through the community's center after her daily lesson with Chidi (and Jason, who also did not belong there), and found herself bumping into Michael, who was his usual, annoyingly cheery self.

The man grinned at her. "Eleanor! You look a little glum. Is everything okay?"

"Everything is fine," she lied. "I'm just a little tired."

"Oh, going home to snuggle with your soulmate," he winked suggestively.

At the mention of Tahani, Eleanor carefully considered her words and asked, "How accurate is your soulmate compatibility system?"

"100 percent guarantee. My system is flawless. Why do you ask?"

Deciding to drop the subject, Eleanor waved it off. "No reason. I think I'm going to go home and take a nap."

"That sounds like a great idea. Tell Tahani I say hi," he said, much too cheerily for Eleanor's liking.

Agreeing to do so, she turned her back to him and continued her walk.

* * *

Eleanor woke up to an unfamiliar weight on her stomach and a silky material on her neck. While waiting for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, she untangled her arms from the rumpled sheets and placed her hand atop the unfamiliar object. As it turned out, it was an arm.  _Tahani's_  arm. Sometime in the middle of the night, Tahani had thrown an arm over her stomach and snuggled her head into the crook of Eleanor's neck, which explained the silky, dark tresses covering her shoulders.

In the time they'd been living together, not once had this ever occurred. Tahani was not a sleep cuddler, so this couldn't have been an unconscious decision. Which made sense. Now that Eleanor's eyes and ears had adjusted to the darkness and the stillness of the room, she could hear that Tahani's breathing wasn't as deep and even as it was when she was asleep.

Eleanor sleepily smirked. 

"Are you making a pass at me?" She whispered into the silent room.

A few moments of silence passed, and then came a mumbled reply. 

"Don't ruin the moment, Eleanor."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I think I might make this 3 chapters long. Would you guys be interested in one more chapter?


	3. Day 51-80

Cuddling had become a nightly routine for Eleanor and Tahani and, strangely, Eleanor didn't mind it. Maybe it was because she was being cuddled by a woman whose entire body seemed to be carved by the gods, themselves. Or maybe it was because being held in Tahani's long, toned arms was the closest she'd ever get to second base with her. Either way, Eleanor was fine with their weird arrangement.

During her life, Eleanor had never been the cuddling type; she was the type to fork someone's brains out and then kick them out after she'd gotten what she needed from them. And then she'd block their number and act like she didn't know them when they approached her in public (and they always did, without fail). Eleanor just wasn't the touch-feely type; or, at least she never used to be. Now, she wasn't so sure.

Lying in bed, with her limbs so entangled in Tahani's that it was difficult to distinguish where Eleanor ended and Tahani began, had actually been sort of  _nice_. And nice was not a word Eleanor liked to use. If anything, the word  _nice_  had never really been a part of her vocabulary until she entered The Good Place. Being around Tahani, and all the other good people in this place, had caused Eleanor to reevaluate her past and present choices. She still thought she was far more bearable to be around than any of those do-gooders, but that didn't mean she couldn't take a few pages out of their book.

It probably wouldn't hurt for Tahani to do the same; her sister issues and refusal to admit that she was attracted to Eleanor was just getting out of hand. Especially the part about her not admitting she was attracted to her.

Newsflash: She totally was, even if she didn't know it yet.

* * *

"So, does cuddling me every night constitute as you admitting you have a thing for me, or are you going to continue denying it?"

Eleanor felt Tahani's body shake with quiet laughter, the woman's breath tickling the back of her neck. Goosebumps rose on the skin of her neck, just as the arm around her waist slightly loosened its grasp. This was the tenth time Eleanor had woken up to the other woman snuggled into her back, and, maybe it was just Eleanor's imagination, but Tahani's hand seemed to rise further up her abdomen each time. Her arm was wrapped around Eleanor's waist, but her hand was dangerously close to palming one of the twins. When Eleanor tapped a finger against Tahani's hand, the woman brushed the pad of her finger against the underside of her breast. She knew  _exactly_  what she was doing.

"Look, I think it's pretty obvious what's happening here," Eleanor implored, sounding far more alert than she'd felt a few minutes prior, "and if you want to fondle my boobs, all you have to do is ask."

Tahani released a breathy chuckle and slid her hand away from its previous location, resting it atop Eleanor's stomach. Once her chuckling subsided, she cleared her throat and jerkily tapped her fingers against Eleanor's clothed belly button. Eleanor knew that meant the moment was over, and that Tahani was going to start pulling away. Tahani tended to brush Eleanor off when she tried confronting her about her actions. Whenever Eleanor woke up in the middle of the night to Tahani holding her, or caught her staring at her lips during their conversations, or noticed her staring daggers at Chidi whenever Eleanor hung out with him - Tahani always brushed it off, as if it were all in Eleanor's head. Sometimes Eleanor felt inclined to agree.

"My hand must've slipped," Tahani insisted.

"Bull shark. We've been sharing a bed for months, and this whole 'sleep cuddling' thing is way too recent to be considered a legit habit of yours. If you want me, tell me. You already know how I feel."

In lieu of a response, Tahani unwound her arm from Eleanor's waist and turned on her side, leaving her back to Eleanor.

Eleanor turned her head to stare at Tahani's back and rolled her eyes at the woman's antics. "One day you'll admit it."

"I'm afraid today will not be the day, so don't hold your breath."

The only thing Eleanor took from that sentence was that there eventually  _would_  be a day. She was already dead; she could hold her breath for as long as she wanted.

* * *

If Eleanor were still alive, she'd have been blue in the face. After witnessing the nightmare that was Chidi and Pevita's relationship, Eleanor almost felt like she'd had it easy with Tahani.

Until Tahani started flirting with Chidi.

After forcing Eleanor on a double date with Chidi and Pevita at Vicky's clam chowder place, Eleanor watched Tahani fawn over her dorky teacher as they spoke about whatever stuff nerds liked to talk about. Eleanor and Pevita could have left and neither of their dates would have noticed. Or cared. Tahani smiled, laughed, and even joked with Chidi – which were things she'd never done with Eleanor, unless Eleanor was the butt of the joke. The more Tahani and Chidi bonded, the more Eleanor believed that Michael's system was in desperate need of repair. It'd make sense for the ethics scholar and the queen of charity fundraisers to be soulmates.

While Eleanor silently seethed, Pevita didn't seem at all bothered by Chidi's disregard of her presence; if anything, she just looked bored. Eleanor wished she could be that unbothered.

Not wanting to stay there a moment longer, Eleanor stood and interrupted the conversing pair. "I think I'm ready to go home. You guys can continue talking, I'll just leave you to it."

Chidi looked confused by the abruptness of her announcement and opened his mouth to question her, but Eleanor waved him off. Leave it to Chidi to be his kind, concerned self when she should've been annoyed with him. She wasn't, though, because he'd done nothing wrong. She was the one in the wrong; she didn't even belong there. For all she knew, Chidi was Tahani's rightful soulmate, and Eleanor being there had screwed up their chance. Being good sucked.

"I'm just tired," Eleanor told him. "I'll see you tomorrow, and I'll see you," she turned to Tahani, "whenever you get home."

Tahani only nodded, her expression completely blank; Eleanor hated that she couldn't get a read on her. Tahani was better at hiding her emotions than Eleanor was, and, until recently, Eleanor hadn't been aware that she'd possessed feelings, of any kind. If she hadn't known any better, she would have thought The Good Place was trying to sabotage her.

With a polite smile to Chidi and Pevita, Eleanor departed from the table and exited the restaurant without a backward glance. If she'd looked back, she would've noticed Tahani staring after her with rueful eyes.

And she would have basked in that moment, because then she'd know that Tahani actually cared.

* * *

Only ten minutes after Eleanor had gotten back to her moderately-sized shack - which is what Tahani had called it under her breath when she thought Eleanor wasn't listening – did Tahani walk through their front door, looking weirdly winded, as if she'd ran there. Eleanor tried not to stare at Tahani's erratically heaving chest, but her eyes kept finding their way back.

Tahani, who had been watching the woman leer at her, snapped, "You could at least try to be subtle."

Eleanor sneered and locked eyes with her housemate. "Well, you could've at least tried to pretend that I existed at dinner tonight, but I guess we don't always get what we want."

"Chidi is the first person I've met in this place that I can talk to about things of substance. There aren't many scholars here, aside from myself," Tahani retorted.

"Well, I'm sorry I'm too stupid for you to be around. Maybe you should ask Michael to pair you with someone just as snobby and narcissistic as yourself!"

"Narcissistic? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black," Tahani shot back, stepping further into the living room and into Eleanor's space. "Like you're one talk."

Eleanor took a step closer to Tahani, putting them toe-to-toe and head-to-chest - because Tahani was an actual Amazon compared to Eleanor - and stared up at the taller woman with narrowed eyes.

"You've been driving me crazy for months. It's hard living with someone you're sure doesn't like you half the time; though, I will admit, I dislike you at least twenty-five percent of the time, but that's because you're obnoxious," Eleanor countered.

"Says the woman that flirts with me all hours of the day."

"Because you're hot and I'm always horny," Eleanor said, shrugging as it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I think I've made my attraction pretty clear. It's you that's making this whole thing difficult."

Tahani deflated at that, and chose her next words carefully. "I suppose you may be right."

"About?"

Biting her lip, Tahani took a step forward and took Eleanor's face between her palms. "I usually have much better taste in women, yet I'm attracted to you, so-

"Is that supposed to be a compliment or an insult?" Eleanor interrupted, earning herself a glare from the impatient woman. "Sorry, you were saying?"

"Before you so rudely interrupted me, I was going to say that I've found myself attracted to you despite our glaring differences. I understand that I am far out of your league and that my beauty and social standing may intimidate you, but-"

"Do you ever hear yourself speak?"

Tahani opened her mouth to defend herself, but was cut off once more. "I'm going to need you to stay quiet for the next few hours, because I am so tired of you ruining the moment."

Taking Tahani's hand in her grasp, Eleanor led them to the bedroom without another word. Within seconds, Tahani was on the mattress lying flat on her back, while Eleanor hovered over her, and straddled her waist. Leveling her face with Tahani's, Eleanor kissed her, hard. Tahani responded to the kiss eagerly, placing her hands on Eleanor's hips, and pulling the woman flush against her.

When they awoke the next morning, neither woman made an excuse as to why they'd woken up in each other's arms for an eleventh time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here is the new chapter, as promised. All of you that have taken the time to leave feedback have made me want to write more, so thank you. I appreciate it. I'm willing to write more if you guys are interested, since I know there aren't many multi-chap fics for this pairing. If not, I'll just leave this as the end. So, don't hesitate to let me know if you want more chapters. Hope you've all enjoyed the story!


	4. Pillow Talking - Day 81 & 82

Eleanor had never been one for pillow talk. On Earth, she was all about hitting it and quitting it, with both men and women, because she didn't discriminate when it came to matters of the vag. She'd spent her entire life pushing down her emotions, and pushing herself onto the next willing participant; it became a routine she'd never bothered to change, and she knew that, in some way, it had contributed to her early demise. Eleanor's dismissal of other people's feelings - and her own feelings, which she'd only recently acknowledged she even had - were what caused her to lead such an unhappy and unsatisfying life, and that's why those shopping carts crashed into her that day. Had she taken the time to be kinder, maybe she could have avoided going to the grocery store that day. Maybe if she were nicer and easier to be around, she could've been dating a bartender that would've catered to her alcoholic needs at home, where she would've been safe from rogue shopping carts.

But had those things not have happened, maybe she wouldn't have accidentally ended up in The Good Place, where she'd met the two people who made her want to be better. Chidi wasn't just any ordinary good guy, he was top shelf, and his classes, while boring and a bit nauseating at times, were really beginning to help her. She'd found herself doing nice things for other people, without expecting anything in return. And being around Tahani, with her beauty and composure, made Eleanor want to throttle her at times, but she'd gotten used to Tahani's annoying perfection. It was the other woman's surprising warmth and gentleness that made Eleanor want to  _attempt_  to shower her with some sort of affection; the type of affection that was sincere and not forced.

Key word: Attempt.

Eleanor was changing, yes, but she hadn't been there long enough to change  _that_  much.

But, she had changed enough to do the  _one_  thing she'd never done on Earth: Pillow talk. After spending the night together, Eleanor had found her limbs tangled with Tahani's, their bare skin touching any and everywhere, their faces only millimeters apart, and their hair splayed across a single pillow; the mixture of dark and light hair reminded Eleanor of her mother's hair color when she was in desperate need of a dye job. Which was always.

But that was beside the point. The point was that Eleanor was not only cuddling someone after forking their brains out, but she was conversing with them and acknowledging their existence, and, what was even weirder, was that she didn't hate it. She wanted to hate it, even tried summoning up some of her old attitude to hate it, but it hadn't worked. She wondered if her enjoyment of the intimate moment had to do with Chidi's teachings, or just Tahani herself.

"So, your parents didn't accept your heartfelt coming out, but accepted your sister's casual lesbianism?"

"Her faux lesbianism, Eleanor, keep up," Tahani chided, causing Eleanor to roll her eyes and nod for the other woman to continue. "Anyway, I had come out to my parents and they told me to keep my sexuality to myself, and then a few months later, Kamilah came out to the public as gay and in a relationship with Kristen Stewart. Keep in mind, this was a PR stunt to help boost her album sales, but only Kristen and I had been in on the secret. Instead of dismissing her, like they'd done with me, my parents, quite literally, rolled out the rainbow carpet for her. And I do mean  _literally_. They had a coming out party for her at our estate, and rolled a rainbow carpet down our drive."

Eleanor let out a disbelieving laugh. "You can't be serious."

Tahani sighed, rolling her eyes at the ridiculousness of the memory. "I wish that I weren't. Nothing I ever did was good enough in my parents' eyes, but whatever Kamilah did, they'd praise without hesitation. I'm honestly surprised they'd even bothered naming me, seeing as I didn't exist to them as anything other than the child that was not Kamilah."

"You raised billions of dollars for charity, I'm sure they must've been proud of that."

"Oh, they were proud that Kamilah's 'good influence'," Tahani air quoted, "had caused me to follow in her humanitarian footsteps."

Tahani sounded exhausted just talking about her sister and her parents' obvious favoritism, and Eleanor felt exhausted just listening. Tahani's parents were on Eleanor's parents level of forked up, and she hadn't thought that was possible. Maybe that's why she and Tahani clicked; they both came from forked up households and had shirty parents. Although, Tahani turned out far better than Eleanor. Unlike her, Tahani hadn't been awful just for the sake of being awful during her time on Earth. She was still a million times better than Eleanor could ever be.

"Your parents are dumb," Eleanor quietly declared. "They should have felt lucky to have a daughter like you."

Tahani smiled, her blindingly white teeth the only thing Eleanor could see in the dark room. "Thank you," she said, sounding touched.

A moment later, Eleanor felt soft lips gently brush against hers, and allowed herself to get lost in the moment. The kiss soon took on a life of its own, and Eleanor had found herself pinned beneath the taller woman, dark hair curtained around her head, and plump lips latched onto her neck.

One other thing Eleanor had never allowed anyone on Earth to do: Top her.

* * *

"You look content," Chidi commented when Eleanor entered his living room for their daily class. "I'm assuming your contentment has to do with your blossoming relationship with Tahani.

It did, but Eleanor wasn't going to admit that to him. Instead, she looked around the room and noticed Jason was already there, staring blankly at the blackboard, which had what looked to be an entire ethics essay written on it. Chidi had obviously gotten carried away again. At a glance, not even Eleanor could pronounce half the words written on the board. If she was lost, then Jason didn't stand a chance.

"What's that you've gotten written over there?" Eleanor responded, ignoring his previous comment and nodding toward the blackboard. "Is that our lesson for today, or is that just part of some elaborate scheme to be the first person in the world to kill us a second time by literally boring us to death."

Chidi huffed indignantly, and crossed his arms over his chest. "I worked really hard on coming up with a new lesson for today."

"Yeah, about as hard as Jason's brain is working to not spontaneously combust. Maybe tone it down a little."

Chidi ignored Eleanor's jabs, walked to the front of his makeshift classroom, and started his lesson. Despite Eleanor's complaints, she'd done her best to pay attention. Jason, on the other hand, had fallen asleep fifteen minutes in. Chidi had thrown a pen at him, which effectively woke him up; Jason offered their disgruntled teacher a sheepish smile in apology. The rest of the lesson went surprisingly smooth after that.

When Eleanor left Chidi's living room that afternoon and made her way back to her house, she wondered how Tahani would feel knowing Eleanor didn't belong there. Would that change things? Would Tahani rat her out to Michael? Would the weird relationship they'd built suddenly crumble into nothingness?

Eleanor had only confided in Chidi because of the note she'd written to herself, and the only reason she'd confided in Jason was because he'd figured her out (which was surprising, considering that Jason was easily the dumbest person she'd ever met, in life or death). So, why did she feel the sudden need to tell Tahani the truth?

While Eleanor knew the answer to that question, she wasn't quite ready to face what that answer meant.

Sometimes, the Good Place felt more like a curse than a blessing.

* * *

As it turned out, the Good Place was a curse that kept on cursing. Imagine Eleanor's surprise when she walked into her home to find a random woman standing in the middle of her living room with a confused looking Tahani.

"Eleanor," Tahani said upon her arrival, eyes narrowed in her direction, "Or is that even your real name?"

Confused, Eleanor eyed her and the mystery woman warily. "What are you talking about?"

"Eleanor," Tahani repeated, a hint of hurt and betrayal in her voice, "This is Eleanor Shellstrop. The  _real_  Eleanor Shellstrop, it seems. Care to explain yourself?"

The other woman, the real Eleanor apparently, looked at Eleanor apologetically, as if she hadn't meant to cause any trouble. If she really was the Eleanor Shellstrop that belonged there, then she probably didn't. How that woman had gotten there, and where she'd been this entire time, Eleanor wasn't sure she wanted to know. Was it possible for a dead person to have a heart attack? Because she was pretty sure she was having one right now. There was no way out of this one, and Michael's sudden appearance only confirmed what she'd already known would happen.

What she didn't expect was for Tahani's hurt expression to be the thing that worried her most.

* * *

"Eleanor, wake up, dear," a familiar voice cooed, pulling Eleanor out of her slumber.

Groggily, Eleanor opened her eyes and saw Tahani staring down at her with a puzzled expression. They were naked, their legs were entwined, and Tahani's cheek was perched atop her right palm, while her left hand gently massaged Eleanor's head.

"What happened?" Eleanor asked, her voice thick with sleep.

"Well, you came home from your day with Chidi, came to bed with me, passed out soon after we'd finished, and then started mumbling incoherently in your sleep, like you were having a nightmare. Do you want to talk about it?"

The sincerity in her voice gave Eleanor pause. Maybe she should tell her the truth. It had been months since they'd arrived in the Good Place; Tahani would figure it out sooner or later, if Michael didn't figure it out first.

Solemnly, Eleanor whispered, "I need to tell you something, and you're not going to like it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm just randomly adding chapters at this point lol. No idea how many more I will add to this story, but I hope you liked this chapter. If you enjoyed it and are looking forward to more, let me know. Your feedback means a lot to me, so I appreciate all of you that have been taking the time to leave a comment.


	5. Day 83 & 84

"So, let me get this straight," Tahani drawled, running her fingers through her hair as she briefly halted her pace around the room to stare at Eleanor. "You don't belong here and, instead of coming clean to Michael about it, you've knowingly taken the place of the real Eleanor Shellstrop, who has most likely taken  _your_  spot in The Bad Place?"

Eleanor silently nodded, watching the woman process her confession with furrowed eyebrows and pursed lips. Eleanor remained seated, her back half-rested against the cushioned headboard, and half-rested against her fluffy pillow. If Tahani decided to rat her out to Michael, she'd no longer have anything fluffy or cushioned. She'd probably be sleeping on a mattress made of thorns and a pillow made of spikes. To add to her torture, she'd probably have to share that mattress with her parents and then be forced to cover with a blanket made of flaming sandpaper. And that sandpaper would be weighed down by several tons of concrete, so they'd never escape their thorn bed, spiked pillows, and sandpaper sheets.

Eleanor winced at the thought of them giving her a sleep mask made of construction paper, where the sharp page edge would dig into her eyes every time she so much as blinked. Papercuts in her eyes, every second of every endless day, paired with her parents complaining in her ear for all eternity. A shudder ran through her body at the dark thought, and it wasn't until she blinked out of her nightmarish daze that she'd noticed Tahani standing in front of her. Summoning the courage to meet Tahani's eyes, Eleanor felt taken aback by the concern she saw there.

"Are you alright?" Tahani inquired.

Eleanor dumbly nodded, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Was this a trick?

Tahani took a step back from Eleanor and stared at her, frustration seeping into her stance and anger now replacing the concern in her eyes.

 _The concern was nice while it lasted_ , Eleanor thought to herself.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Tahani demanded, crossing her arms over her chest as if it to create a barrier between herself and Eleanor.

Eleanor scoffed, disbelief painting her features. "Why, so you could rat me out to Michael?"

Throwing up her hands in frustration, Tahani said, "yes!" as if it were the most obvious answer in the world. Which it was, so Eleanor didn't know why she was surprised. "If I had known, I would have saved myself the trouble!"

Confused and slightly offended, Eleanor inquired, "What trouble?"

"The trouble of falling for a fraud! Especially a fraud with appalling dress sense, zero knowledge of proper table etiquette, no scientific knowledge whatsoever, and terrible pickup lines. And you just so happen to be abnormally short, like a garden gnome. I feel like you're Jack and I'm the beanstalk."

Eleanor gasped, dramatically placing her hand over her chest. "You love having me climb up your body! Those noises you made a few hours ago weren't exactly sounds of protest."

"Oh, is that so?" Tahani challenged. "You're a liar and a fraud, Eleanor; no one would believe that were true."

Eleanor snorted at the ridiculousness of Tahani's statement. "I suppose you're a liar as well, considering that you just admitted to falling for me not even a minute ago."

Tahani froze at that, looking up at the ceiling as she tilted her head in thought. After a few seconds, her eyes widened and her jaw slacked. She looked defeated. Eleanor wasn't sure whether she should have felt triumphant or guilty. The frown that marred Tahani's face had pushed her toward the latter feeling.

"Look, I'm sorry I wasn't honest with you from the beginning. I wasn't planning on saying anything because I hoped that, by the end of my lessons with Chidi– "

"You've been taking lessons from Chidi? What kind of lessons?" Tahani interrupted, looking puzzled.

"Did I forget to mention my daily ethics lessons with Chidi and Jason?"

"Who in the world is Jason?"

Eleanor really stepped in it now. The cat was already halfway out of the bag; might as well cut the bag open and set it free.

"Jianyu's real name is Jason Mendoza. He's not a monk, he's a failed, idiot dj from Jacksonville, Florida. He doesn't belong here, either." Eleanor paused, waiting for the new information to sink in before she continued. "Chidi has been teaching us how to be good, and how to fit in here. Think of it as sensitivity training."

"Sensitivity training?" Tahani repeated incredulously. "I cannot believe this. So, my soulmate, the  _real_  Eleanor Shellstrop, is not you, and she's probably in the Bad Place, suffering in your stead. How can you live with yourself knowing that you're living a life of - well, not luxury, because this tiny cot is anything but luxurious – but how can you sleep at night knowing that, while you're free to do whatever you please, the real Eleanor, my actual soulmate, is possibly being tortured?"

"Well, obviously I can't live with myself, seeing as I'm dead… "

Tahani's glare gave Eleanor pause. She held her hands out in a placating manner, as if to calm a wild animal, and took a different approach. "Listen, hot stuff, I don't like the idea of someone suffering in my place, either, but I've changed in the months that I've been here, and I'm  _trying_  to belong."

"But you  _don't_  belong, Eleanor, that is the point," Tahani shouted, anger and frustration overcoming her.

This was what Eleanor was afraid of. She couldn't bear to face Tahani any longer, so she rose to her feet and grabbed a pillow from the bed.

"I'm going to sleep on the couch. If you plan to rat me out to Michael, wait until tomorrow. I would like to savor the rest of my time here before I'm thrown into the Bad Place where I'll be forced to burn for all eternity. Excuse me."

And, with that, Eleanor bowed out of the room and made her way to the living room couch. Her time in the Good Place was nice while it lasted. Her time with Tahani proved to be something she never knew she needed, but would probably feel the loss of once she was gone. Flopping onto the couch, back first, Eleanor placed the pillow beneath her head and stared at the ceiling, wondering what tomorrow would bring.

* * *

Eleanor woke up the next morning to an empty cottage. Tahani was long gone, along with her favorite purse and hat. It wouldn't surprise Eleanor if Tahani was already waiting outside of Michael's office, mentally preparing the explanation she'd give him before she told him the truth about Eleanor. She'd probably throw a few random British phrases into the mix, go off on a random tangent about her lifetime achievements and celebrity best friends, and then blurt out the situation when she couldn't think of anything else to say.

Or she'd simply just say it and leave it at that.

Tahani either talked around the point or got straight to it; there was no in-between where she was concerned. The months Eleanor spent arguing with Tahani had taught her that much. Either Tahani surprised you with the burn or burned you right off the bat – you'd need time to recover, regardless. If Michael sent her down, Eleanor wouldn't be granted recovery time, she'd just be bracing for impact.

While waiting for the inevitable, Eleanor got dressed and made her way out of the cottage, toward Chidi's house. She'd need to tell him what was going on and say her goodbyes. When she got to Chidi's house, however, her footsteps faltered. There, standing on the front porch with Chidi, was Tahani. Her back was to Eleanor, but she could see the tension in her back. The two seemed to be in a heated, whispered debate.

Chidi was standing in front of his door, which was still slightly ajar, meaning he'd only just stepped out minutes prior and had no intention of standing out there much longer. From her spot at the bottom of his walkway, Chidi looked more offended than Eleanor had ever seen him. Whatever Tahani said must've rubbed him the wrong way, and Eleanor had no doubt that she was the topic of their heated conversation. So, she'd stepped in.

"Guys…" Eleanor cautioned as she walked up to the arguing pair.

The two immediately stopped talking and turned to stare at her in bewilderment.

"What's going on?" Eleanor asked, glancing between the two to gauge their frequently changing expressions. Bewildered to shocked to panicked to completely neutral. They must've sucked at poker. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Nothing!" they said in unison.

"Really? So Tahani didn't come here to chastise you for keeping the truth from her?"

Tahani looked indignant at the incredibly accurate accusation, and Chidi said nothing, which confirmed Eleanor's suspicions. "I'm honestly surprised you didn't go straight to Michael. Judging by how you took the news last night, I was sure you'd go to him first thing this morning," Eleanor told her.

It was Tahani's turn to remain quiet.

"I was just telling Tahani about how much you've learned during our lessons, and how you are really trying your best."

"Let me guess, she suggested that you both come forward and tell Michael the truth?"

Chidi and Tahani exchanged a look Eleanor couldn't quite decipher, before Chidi replied with a cryptic, "not exactly."

* * *

The last thing Eleanor had expected was for Tahani to join Chidi's secret ethics lesson later that day. Seated next to Eleanor on Chidi's couch, while Jason sat on a chair a few feet away, was Tahani, who studiously took notes in a small notepad. When Jason raised his hand to tell Chidi about the time he'd used dance instead of violence to settle a dispute, in relation to Chidi's lesson about pacifism, Eleanor nudged Tahani in the shoulder to get her attention.

When the other woman caught her eye, Eleanor asked, "Why are you here?"

"Believe it or not, Eleanor, I, too, am trying to change for the better. I know I'm as close to perfection as a person can be, but I suppose there's still room for improvement, even in the afterlife."

Eleanor raised an eyebrow at that. "I meant why are you here and not turning me in to Michael."

Tahani heaved a heavy sigh and gave Eleanor a meaningful look. "I want to be furious at you for withholding the truth from me," Tahani informed her. "But it seems that you, with your terrible dress sense and unnaturally small stature, have managed to weasel your way into my heart. Either my taste in partners has severely downgraded during my time here, or we actually _do_ go well together. All I know is that if you're willing to try and better yourself, then maybe you should get a second chance. Who is to say that you aren't my actual soulmate."

Eleanor heard nothing but sincerity in Tahani's voice; she'd meant every word. If Eleanor were still alive and on earth, she would have sabotaged the moment. But she wasn't on earth, and she had no reason to sabotage it, so she placed her hand atop Tahani's and rubbed her thumb against the back of her hand.

"Thank you."

The two became silent, only to realize that Jason had not stopped talking. Chidi looked exasperated but remained patient as Jason continued his story.

Tahani took the opportunity to comment, "Although, I do wonder if the other Eleanor is actually in the Bad Place or just in another neighborhood. I wonder if she's an upgrade from you."

Eleanor knew Tahani was only teasing, due to the mischievous glint in her eye, but she couldn't help herself when she said, "I wonder if your sister will be our next-door neighbor when she dies."

The look Tahani gave her was lethal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I genuinely hope you guys are still enjoying this story. Let me know if you want maybe 1 or 2 more chapters.


	6. Day 100-102

"You know you don't have to keep doing this, right?"

"Doing what?"

"This." Eleanor gestured to Chidi's makeshift classroom with a flourish of her hand. "I get that Chidi's digs are nice and all, but is it really nice enough to have you coming back for more?"

Tahani rolled her eyes and gave Eleanor that exasperated look she'd become accustomed to over the last few months. Exasperation, annoyance, endearment, and lust seemed to be Tahani's go-to feelings where Eleanor was concerned. Recently, love had been added to Tahani's list of feelings, but sometimes Eleanor questioned whether that love was truly genuine. Just a few weeks ago Tahani was ready to jump ship for a chance be with Chidi. Despite the heartfelt speech Tahani had given her the day after her confession, Eleanor still wasn't one-hundred percent sure that Tahani wouldn't leave her if someone better came along.

 _Ugh, way to harsh your own vibe, dude_ , Eleanor thought to herself with a roll of her eyes. Now was not the time to acknowledge her unresolved abandonment issues.

"I already told you why I'm here, Eleanor," Tahani whispered, recapturing Eleanor's attention. "I want to be your moral support and show you that I'm all in. But I also think learning new ways to better myself sounds rather appealing; it's a two-for-one deal that is far too great to pass up."

Of course it was.

Two weeks had gone by since Eleanor's confession and, since that morning on Chidi's porch, Tahani had yet to miss an ethics lesson with her and Jason. As Eleanor listened to Chidi drone on and on about utilitarianism, she started to wonder if Tahani had something to hide. Sure, the woman was physical perfection and had the body of a goddess, but Eleanor couldn't help but wonder if Tahani sat in on these lessons not for Eleanor's benefit, or even to better herself like she'd claimed. What if Tahani was trying to cover up the fact that she also didn't belong there?

That train of thought caused Eleanor to reevaluate their every conversation. Tahani hated her sister, that much Eleanor could tell; she saw through her fake smiles and forced cheeriness whenever the topic of Kamilah Al-Jamil was brought up. Whenever they passed a poster of Kamilah on their daily walks around town, Tahani's steps would falter and she'd capture Eleanor's hand in a death grip. Eleanor also noted the random poster they found of Kamilah in their closet and how Tahani reacted to it; that poster went missing the very next day and Eleanor knew not to ask about it. Not like she'd cared to. The smoke she'd smelled the next morning should have been a red flag, but, at the time, Eleanor just figured Tahani was a secret smoker - which was a stupid thing to think, considering Tahani would never willingly use something that could yellow her pearly white teeth or wrinkle her unblemished skin. It had never even occurred to her that this seemingly calm and collected woman could've been using her sister's picture to start an outdoor dumpster fire.

So, was Tahani a liar  _and_  an arsonist?

"Eleanor, are you paying attention?" Chidi chastised, snapping Eleanor out of her twisted thoughts.

A small smile was all Eleanor could muster. "Yeah, dude. I'm all ears."

Chidi narrowed his eyes at her, but said nothing. He returned his attention to the whiteboard, pointing at some random pie chart he must've drawn while Eleanor was thinking about Tahani, and resumed his lecture.

Eleanor could see Tahani's concerned expression from her peripheral and turned to face her.

"Are you alright?" Tahani mouthed, her brow furrowed.

Eleanor nodded and lifted her hands to a spot just beneath her face, offering a cheesy two-thumbs up pose to ward off the other woman's concern. A twitch of Tahani's upper lip told Eleanor that she was holding back a smile. For a moment, the sight of dark, twinkling eyes and that ghost of a smile had caused Eleanor to forget her previous train of thought.

Maybe Tahani's love for Eleanor was conditional, but Eleanor now accepted that love was more than just a possibility for her. It had become a reality that backhanded her in the face.

* * *

As the days progressed, Eleanor found herself silently observing Tahani (and not just because she found her incredibly sexy, although that was a factor. It was  _always_  a factor). Luckily, Tahani mistook her observation for admiration and didn't suspect a thing. That made her observations easier to explain away.

Tahani knew she was hot stuff, so having Eleanor stare at her all day fed her ego the type of meal it craved. She wanted to see if she'd notice any cracks in Tahani's seemingly perfect demeanor. Either Tahani was the best actress in the world or she was the most unbothered person on the planet.

When Eleanor first landed in The Good Place and found out Tahani was her soulmate, she couldn't find one thing wrong with the other woman. Tahani was literal perfection and probably the kindest soul she'd ever met. But now? Eleanor wasn't entirely sure. Tahani was still perfection, but was her kindness an act? Was she not as generous or selfless as she'd claimed to be?

Tahani raised billions of dollars for charity during her lifetime, and had even helped build schools in foreign countries. She was practically the poster child for humanitarian work. If anyone belonged in The Good Place, it was her.

So why was Eleanor questioning that?  _Who_  was she to question that?

A large part of Eleanor felt that someone as  _good_ as Tahani could never be compatible with her. Her entire life she'd heard people preach about opposites attracting, but can someone as selfless and kind as Tahani be truly compatible with someone as cruel and selfish as Eleanor? It seemed extreme, even to her. Despite Tahani's sweet reassurances, Eleanor felt that it was all too good to be true.

Sometimes Eleanor felt like she was in The Bad Place. Being surrounded by people much better than herself seemed like a form of torture tailored specifically for her. Even though Jason was as dumb as bricks, he wasn't a bad guy. He had done bad things, sure, but he had a heart of gold and always tried bringing comfort to others in his own naïve, misinformed way. Chidi taught ethics for a living and didn't have an evil bone in his body, and Tahani spent her life building schools and helping the poor. All Eleanor did was sell ineffective pills to desperate customers and lie to them about the life-threatening side effects they'd been experiencing because of them. Who knows how many deaths she'd been responsible for. Tahani deserved better than a person who had indirectly murdered others. 

When Eleanor laid beside Tahani that night, Tahani's head tucked into the crook of her neck and her arm thrown over Eleanor's torso, Eleanor wondered if she was capable of being the type of person Tahani deserved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been forever since I've updated and I know this chapter is short, but this has been sitting on my computer for months so I figured I might as well post it. I know this is short and a little angsty, but hopefully you all enjoy it.


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